Judge Torres orders SEC to disclose the Hinman documents — a major win for Ripple

Key Takeaways:

• Judge Analisa Torres ruled to disclose the “Hinman Speech” documents.
• What is the “Hinman Speech,” and why is it important for Ripple?

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – US District Judge Analisa Torres has denied the SEC’s Motion to Seal the Hinman documents, according to court documents revealed by former attorney James K. Filan.

Hinman documents and their relevance to the case.

The law enforcement agency filed the infamous lawsuit in December 2020.

The SEC they accused Ripple, the current chief executive Brad Garlinghouse, and the former CEO Chris Larsen of fraud, citing their “unlawful” sale of $1.3 billion worth of XRP tokens as unregistered securities.

But the agency didn’t extend the same ‘courtesy’ to larger cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which became the cornerstone of the lawsuit and one of the primary defense fronts.

Furthermore, the defense cited what is now referred to as the Hinman Speech to prove their point. William Hinman is the former Director of the Corporation Finance Division at the SEC. In his June 2018 speech, Mr. Hinman voiced his position on defining digital assets.

Putting aside the fundraising that accompanied the creation of Ether, based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.

said the former official.

Ripple lawyers aimed to depose Mr. Hinman, i.e., order his testimony before the court. Undoubtedly, the further investigation of a former SEC official’s stance could clarify the case. However, the agency filed a motion to seal the connected documents, citing the danger of creating a precedent questioning a high-ranking official.

The SEC won’t be able to conceal a portion of the documents

However, the latest ruling confirmed Judge Torres’ stance on the matter.

She asserted that the Hinman Speech Documents “would reasonably tend to influence [the Court’s] ruling on a motion.” Thus, the documents do not receive “different weights of presumption based on the extent to which they were relied upon in resolving a motion.”

Earlier, the SEC argued that the said documents should be sealed because of the “clear lack of relevance of these documents to the summary judgment motions” and because their disclosure “would be highly prejudicial to the SEC. However, Judge Torres disagreed.

Also read: XRP is a Common Enterprise, SEC Argues in Another Desperate Attempt to Corner Ripple. 

The Court disagrees.

the court ruled.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the ruling a “win for transparency.”

Another win for transparency! Unredacted Hinman emails are to be publicly available soon – stay tuned as the lawyers work through the mechanics to make that happen.

commented the CEO.